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Referee admits mistake

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Here’s the pool report from NBA official Bennett Salvatore, who signaled an inadvertent whistle with the Hawks leading 100-94 with 2:27 left when Jamal Crawford appeared to foul Derrick Rose on a three point attempt:

“An inadvertent whistle is when a referee blows his whistle and didn’t mean to. That’s exactly what happened. I blew my whistle and didn’t mean to. I didn’t think it was a foul. Having watched the replay after the game, it was a foul and I should have called it. I made a mistake. I blew my whistle. I was positive it was not afoul. I blew my whistle by accident. Which is an inadvertent whistle. That’s why I disallowed it. Having watched replay. It was a foul. I made a mistake. I was wrong.”

Said Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau: “At that time of the game I’ve never seen an inadvertent whistle, but Bennett (Salvatore) is a good official who said he missed the call. He’s still a good official. He’s human and we all make mistakes. When (Rose) got (Crawford) in the air, I thought it was a foul, but sometimes it goes your way and sometimes it doesn’t.”

About Sam Smith

Smith covered the Bulls and the NBA for the Chicago Tribune for 25 years. He is the author of the best selling The Jordan Rules, which was top ten on the New York Times Bestseller List for three months. He is also the author of Second Coming: The Strange Odyssey of Michael Jordan and co-author of the Total Basketball Encyclopedia. Smith served as president of the Professional Basketball Writers Association for four terms, a feat no one else has accomplished. He has also served on committees for the NBA and the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. In 2012, Smith was honored by the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame with its Curt Gowdy Media Award.